A couple of weeks ago I had not yet calibrated my BeerSmtih software, to the point where I was having to add water at the end of the boil because my system profile was off. I finally got around to calibrating my system and redoing my system profile so that at the end of the boil, my wort level is right where it should be and I can begin chilling...or so I thought.

The problem:

I brew on a MoreBeer system that has 15 gallon kettles so I can brew 10 gallon batches. When I redid my system profile I did things very precisly so I know my numbers are correct. Here's the problem. In order for my end of boil level to be correct, I have to start my pre-boil level at 14.73 gallons. My kettles are only 15 gallons and so I'm right to the top. I tried boiling at the slowest rate possible and no luck. I have all kinds of boil over which not only screws up my expected gravity (tonight for instance I was trying to hit 1.067 and ended up with 1.061 because of how much wort boiled over i.e. sugar loss). The boil over also throws off my numbers to where I'm still below where I should be on my post boil wort levels. My question is, what the hell do I do now? My initial thoughts...

1) Buy a bigger boil kettle ($$$)

2) Only transfer part of my wort to the boil kettle in the beginning and the rest to another pot. Start the boil and as my wort begins to boil off, add the wort I transfered to another pot slowly back in.

If I understood correctly your main problem is boil over.
There are several ways to prevent it:
- add few coins in brew kettle, they will brake bubbles forming on bottom
- use sprayer and spray often at the beginning
- Antifoam can also help (although if needed I use it only for starters)

As for 1.057, I am not familiar w/Morebeer kettles but it may mean that this is maximum OG that can be brewed with full volume capacity and some standard efficiency.

__________________

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Things are bound to change!!

maybe I misread, and the only article I can find is regarding the Braumeister system, which has a maximum OG limit of 1.057

14.75 gallons pre-boil for a 10-gallon batch? what is your boil-off rate and boil time? even the default Keggle profile will put you at 13.44 gallon boil.

what do you have for batch volume?

as far as I can tell, in the Equipment Profile, the following variables effect what the program calculates for Boil Volume:
Loss to Trub
Batch Volume
Boil Time
Boil Off
Cooling Shrinkage
Top Up Water (to FERMENTER, NOT KETTLE)
Batch Volume

and I think these can be overridden per batch from the recipe design page, edit equipment button.

maybe you have a bad number in there somewhere.

all else fails, uncheck the box next to Calculate Boil Vol Automatically and put in a more realistic number

__________________

#redbully

"Why must it always be pandemonium?" - George Mueller/Nelson Van Alden

A couple of weeks ago I had not yet calibrated my BeerSmtih software, to the point where I was having to add water at the end of the boil because my system profile was off. I finally got around to calibrating my system and redoing my system profile so that at the end of the boil, my wort level is right where it should be and I can begin chilling...or so I thought.

The problem:

I brew on a MoreBeer system that has 15 gallon kettles so I can brew 10 gallon batches. When I redid my system profile I did things very precisly so I know my numbers are correct. Here's the problem. In order for my end of boil level to be correct, I have to start my pre-boil level at 14.73 gallons. My kettles are only 15 gallons and so I'm right to the top. I tried boiling at the slowest rate possible and no luck. I have all kinds of boil over which not only screws up my expected gravity (tonight for instance I was trying to hit 1.067 and ended up with 1.061 because of how much wort boiled over i.e. sugar loss). The boil over also throws off my numbers to where I'm still below where I should be on my post boil wort levels. My question is, what the hell do I do now? My initial thoughts...

1) Buy a bigger boil kettle ($$$)

2) Only transfer part of my wort to the boil kettle in the beginning and the rest to another pot. Start the boil and as my wort begins to boil off, add the wort I transfered to another pot slowly back in.

Please help!

I'd go with #2 but I'd try to be heating the leftover wort so it doesn't stop the boil on your main system when you add it. It would be nice to have it right at the boiling point when added.

Boil off rate is high at 3 gallons per hour. I know that seems like a lot, and it is, but it's correct. This is for a 10 gallon batch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrogNerd

maybe I misread, and the only article I can find is regarding the Braumeister system, which has a maximum OG limit of 1.057

14.75 gallons pre-boil for a 10-gallon batch? what is your boil-off rate and boil time? even the default Keggle profile will put you at 13.44 gallon boil.

what do you have for batch volume?

as far as I can tell, in the Equipment Profile, the following variables effect what the program calculates for Boil Volume:
Loss to Trub
Batch Volume
Boil Time
Boil Off
Cooling Shrinkage
Top Up Water (to FERMENTER, NOT KETTLE)
Batch Volume

and I think these can be overridden per batch from the recipe design page, edit equipment button.

maybe you have a bad number in there somewhere.

all else fails, uncheck the box next to Calculate Boil Vol Automatically and put in a more realistic number